KARACHI, Nov 8: The Lahore junior team clinched the second PHF Junior Super Hockey League title by beating Faisalabad 3-2 in the final at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday evening.

Faisalabad's Ayub Ali scored in the fifth minute to pull an early lead.

However, Lahore's Arsalan Qureshi levelled the score in the 24th minute.

Before the first half was over, Safeer Hussain put Lahore ahead and made it 2-1, scoring in the 32nd minute.

Within 10 minutes in the second half, Mohammad Sohail scored Lahore's third goal.

Faisalabad's Adnan Anwar reduced the margin, scoring in the 63rd minute.

Earlier, in the match for third place, Sialkot bounced back strongly after a 0-1 deficit to eventually thrashed Islamabad 7-1. Islamabad's Faraz scored in the sixth minute.

Sialkot's Mohammad Suleman equalised in the 17th minute and went on to complete his hat-trick also scoring in 38th and 55th minutes.

Khurram Shahzad braced for Sialkot scoring in 41st and 43rd minutes. Mohammad Ali (49th min) and Abdul Ghaffar (54th min) scored one goal each.

Pakistan Hockey Federation president Qasim Zia was the chief guest in the closing ceremony and distributed prizes.

Mohammad Suleman of Sialkot was declared the best player of the tournament by scoring 15 goals and received a motorcycle.

Mazhar Abbas of Faisalabad was declared the best goalkeeper and Mohammad Zohaib of the PHF Academy was named the most promising player of the tournament.

Lahore received prize of Rs600,000, runners-up Faisalabad pocketed Rs400,000 and third-placed Sialkot bagged Rs250,000.—PPI